Monorails for Codsall

Welcome to this new website. Run by an emigrant from the South Staffordshire Autonomous Zone, it is dedicated to the monorail system which serves that area. Soon it will be chock full of SSAZ monorail history: songs and jingles written to promote the monorail; timetables; newspaper clippings; route diagrams and articles concerning the history of the monorail.

Please keep checking back! In the meantime, a short history of the monorail:

Since 1990 the South Staffs Autonomous Zone (SSAZ) has had its own monorail system- enabling the quick, easy and environmentally friendly transporting of goods around the zone. Codsall is also home to a ‘Centre for the Study of Monorail Technology’ (the other being in St.Mesmin Autonomous Zone in France).

The idea of building a monorail in the region was first mooted by an ambitious local council in 1978, but after a series of feasibility studies it was rejected as being too expensive. Following the region’s secession from UK control with the creation of the SSAZ in 1985 the idea was floated again and- with the support of the Centre for the Study of Monorail Technology (then solely based in France)- construction began in 1987.

Initially the monorail system served only Codsall: taking a short loop around the village. It was in this way that it acquired the nickname ‘Monorails for Codsall’ (its official name is ‘The SSAZ Monorail Co-Operative’), but it has since been extended with lines south to Pattingham, west to Albrighton and north to Brewood, Wheaton Aston and Penkridge. Residents of the Saint Mesmin Autonomous Zone in Southern France provide continual help with the building and upkeep of the monorail, having built their own network at the end of the sixties. The line uses French technology and combines second-hand equipment (including the monorail car seen in Francois Truffaut’s film of Farenheit 451) with newer technology (there are 6 monorail cars in total, with the newest three arriving in 2001).

The line is owned and operated on a collective basis by residents of the SSAZ. In line with the ‘Autonomous Zones Trade Agreement’ of 1978, residents of any Autonomous Zone worldwide can travel on it for free (those who are citizens of a state must pay for travel). It attracts a great deal of income for the SSAZ through tourism (monorail fans from across the world flock for a ride) whilst technology is traded with state-based agencies promoting wider monorail use. Many of those who helped construct the SSAZ Monorail are currently helping build the South London Autonomous Zone’s Monorail System whilst the Centre for the Study of Monorail Technology is currently helping residents of the Nigerian Autonomous Zone plan their own monorail system.